A Gentle Noble's Vacation Recommendation

Rizel and the others arrived just past the early morning rush when the guild was crowded with adventurers seeking quests, and the staff were beginning to catch their breath.

Usually, the staff would only glance their way, but this time they even stopped their work, probably because they recognized them. Following Rizel, who smiled as she passed through the door, came Jill, yawning Eleven, and the unfamiliar man trailing behind them—the man Rizel had declared yesterday.

As Quattro appeared, all eyes in the guild turned toward him.

“...?”

Quattro looked around curiously, realizing he was being watched and feeling a bit puzzled. However, nothing particularly bothered him, and he returned to observing the guild.

The guild that Rizel had described to him while in the cell—the wildly posted request sheets, the desks used by adventurers—everything was as she said, and it was somewhat enjoyable. One of the desks was split cleanly in half and seemed to have been repaired, which caught his attention.

“This way.”

Suddenly, Rizel called to him with a little wave.

Quattro quickened his pace, covering a few steps to stand in front of Rizel at the reception counter. Eleven stood next to Rizel, while Jill sat in a nearby chair, gazing over the quest board.

“Man, you sure bring some atmosphere with you.”

“Do I?”

“Well, once you’re mixed in with these guys, you don’t really stand out.”

The bald staff member traced his short goatee with his thumb and said this with a rough tone.

In a way, the guild staff’s thoughts were unified, though Rizel and the others were unaware of this consensus. If they had brought an ordinary rank f adventurer, the staff would probably have had a hard time accepting it.

“All right, so you’re registering, right?”

“Yes.”

“Then here’s the registration form, and a few other sheets for signatures. No need for the usual explanation.”

Quattro stared down at the papers laid out before him but couldn’t read the characters.

Rizel knew this too. He had said at the cell that he couldn’t read books, so he likely couldn’t fill them out either. Picking up the pen from the desk, she asked,

“Is it okay if I fill it out for you?”

“Yeah. But you also have to sign the bottom.”

It’s not uncommon for adventurers to be illiterate.

Many of them can read simple sentences but struggle with writing. This doesn’t interfere with choosing quests or shopping, so it’s not a big issue.

If they encounter complex puzzles inside the labyrinth, they might struggle, but usually, reading doesn’t help much anyway, so no one minds.

“Wait, you can’t write your own name?”

“No, I can’t.”

“His tribe mainly passes knowledge down orally; they’re probably not familiar with writing,” Eleven explained, looking down at Rizel’s hands with understanding.

Rizel wrote the names “Quattro” and her own in neat, slightly slanted handwriting on the documents, then moved on to the registration form. After filling in the name and age, she looked up from the paper.

“How should I write the birthplace? I don’t even know the name of the settlement on the archipelago.”

“In the valley. Many valleys. One of them. Also, I don’t know.”

Quattro had recalled some details of his home but not the exact location.

This was likely not due to brainwashing but simply forgotten. Even young Quattro had no idea which direction the settlement was from the town.

“...Is that a problem?”

Though he couldn’t read, Quattro leaned over to look at the registration paper with a slightly apologetic expression. Rizel chuckled softly. He was probably worried he couldn’t become an adventurer, so she smiled reassuringly with her dull-colored eyes.

“It’s fine. I couldn’t write either.”

“Well, if that’s all you know, it’s enough to write.”

Eleven peeked over to the other side of Rizel’s hands.

“I didn’t write much either.”

“What did you write?”

“‘In the northeastern forest of Astarnia, the house of the snake perfumer.’”